The Counterforce Lab is an initiative by Professor Rebeca Méndez in the department of Design Media Arts at UCLA, that uses art and design to develop new collaborative insights, disciplines and methods to research, create, and execute projects around the ecological impacts of anthropogenic climate change.
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Ascent of Weavers, a call for collective action for healing the earth
Ascent of Weavers / Ascenso de Tejedoras, 2018 by Rebeca Méndez
3-channel video installation
In collaboration with the Hernández-Quero Family of artisans of Mitla, Oaxaca.
Under the Cobalt Blue Sky at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca
For a world facing social and environmental crises, Ascent of Weavers is a call for awakening and action for collective healing of the earth. Entities of white, red, blue, and black embody cycles of the sun, the heavens, and the underworld and directions of human life in pre-Hispanic Zapotec civilization. The entities undertake a journey into Mictlan (Lyobaa in Zapotec)—the underworld of the Mixtec mythology—aided by Xolotl (a canine god), who leads them through the underworld’s nine levels. Here they are challenged by piercing winds and crushing mountains, finally crossing rivers of blood to emerge as goddesses of weaving (Tlazolteotl, or Nohuichana in Zapotec)—warriors leading us to a more just, equitable, and sustainable relationship withour planet.
Ascent of Weavers / Ascenso de Tejedoras from Rebeca Méndez on Vimeo.
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